Chapter Text
Life After Death
A Julia Story
Chapter One: Normal
Julia Montague looked around her old London flat. Everything had been boxed up. This was because until a few days ago the world thought she was dead. The only exception was a gray couch in the living room. It looked like the home of a stranger. It all felt surreal. For days she had been housed up in an old manor house in Bath, being hidden from the world. Now that the truth had been exposed, she was here. She had been deposed as Home Secretary now she was Home Secretary again!
It had been three days since Julia exposed the truth on the side of the road and now just a mere few hours after being reunited, David was standing in her flat not as her PPO but her boyfriend, this all felt unreal. She had just been released from the hospital an hour ago, it was all over now. She had to get back to real life.
Looking at the state of the flat, he turned to Julia and offered “we can get a hotel.”
“God no. I haven’t been in my own home since God knows when. We can just make up the bed and deal with everything else tomorrow. Oh good God,” she cried.
“What’s wrong? I thought you wanted me to stay here. I don’t have to. If this is all going too fast, we can slow things down. I know, a few hours ago it was the first time we saw each other since St. Matthews, so I understand if you need some space and time to yourself.”
“No I want you here, we already established that. It’s just weird you know. When you dream about something for so long, it’s all you can think about. You breathe it, it’s like it’s the very air around you. Then it happens when you thought it never would, it’s just weird but it’s an amazing weird and I’m so glad I’m here and not in that dusty house in Bath, it’s going to take some time to get used to though. But I wouldn’t have it any other way,” she said as they fell into a kiss.
After a few seconds, she pulled away from David and said “ we are going to have to make some changes.”
“Yeah I know the dynamics of our relationship changed since I am no longer your PPO…,” David began as he was interrupted by Julia.
“No I don’t mean that. I think we’ll be just fine. No this flat. It has to change, I just want to get back to normal but I think it will be a normal not seen before, so I want to get back to a new normal.”
“It will get better overtime. It’s just weird. I mean it’s a good kind of weird but it’s still weird. My God you were dead and now you’re not! It’s crazy, we just need to find our groove and get back into it!”
“So you think everything will feel somewhat sane, if we find our groove,” asked Julia?
“Yeah I do,” replied David.
“Do you think this will help,” she asked as she pulled David into a passionate kiss, as she led him to the couch, gently pushed him onto it and then fell onto him all the while kissing him.
“I think this will do the trick of getting back to normal. But are you sure my God an hour ago you were just released from a hospital,” asked David as he pulled away from her for a second?
“When I was in Bath, you and your touch were sometimes the only things I could think of. I have been dreaming of this moment ever since I woke up in the hospital after the explosion,” she said as they kissed again.
The early morning sun shone through the apartment bright and early the next morning. They had slept on the couch. The newly reinstated Home Secretary was sitting on one of the boxes that contained her old belongings, looking at her laptop for dining room tables, David was in the kitchen. They were starting to begin their new life together.
“I think I like this table what do you think,” she asked David who came out of the kitchen holding a steaming cup of tea and handed it to Julia.
“We could go and get your old table, I think it’s still in storage, I heard your mother put herself in charge of all of that stuff.”
“Oh God mum, she called me half a dozen times at the hospital, she even came to visit me the first night I was in the hospital after escaping from Bath but I wasn’t too keen on having visitors that weren’t you.” Ever since she was a teenager, Julia had a complex relationship with her mother.
“You two have a complicated relationship right,” asked David?
“Yes but it’s getting better since Dad died a few years ago, the loss caused us to put aside our differences, it’s been hard for her losing Dad.”
“I saw her that day at the hospital with Rodger.”
“That hasn’t been great for our relationship her letting Rodger lie that I was dead to the world. She thought he was trying to keep me safe. Rodger was one of the many reasons for our complicated relationship, she always liked him.”
“Really, she can’t be a good judge of character then.”
“I know tell me about it.”
“So when do I get to meet her?”
“I don’t know,” snapped Julia! “We just got back together, we haven’t been reunited yet for a full twenty-four hours.”
“What does that mean,” shouted David?
“It means, I just want it to be us before we start adding in other people.”
“So I’m still your secret,” cried David?
“No God no, I just don’t think it’s the right time for you to meet my mother.”
“So we’re not serious or are you just ashamed of me?"
“No, I’m ashamed of her. She scared my last boyfriend off, I don’t want to lose you, I was in this horrible house in Bath, thinking that I would never see you again and I can’t lose you because of her.”
“I don’t get scared that easy, I thought you saw that the other day, I think I can handle her,” replied David in a softer tone as he kissed Julia on the cheek.
“Okay, we’ll have her over to dinner then. But I want to meet your children.”
“Sure how about today?”
“I would love that,” she cried!